Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $21.71 Million Stake in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 522,264 shares of the company’s stock after selling 115,408 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Avient were worth $21,711,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Avient by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Avient in the third quarter worth $136,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of Avient during the fourth quarter worth $191,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Avient during the third quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Avient in the fourth quarter valued at about $234,000. 95.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AVNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.20.

Avient Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AVNT opened at $45.12 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.82. Avient Co. has a 52 week low of $27.73 and a 52 week high of $47.87. The firm has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.53.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Avient had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 2.41%. The firm had revenue of $829.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $818.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Avient Co. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avient Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.257 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is 124.10%.

About Avient

Avient Corporation operates as a formulator of material solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Asia. It operates in two segments, Color, Additives and Inks; and Specialty Engineered Materials. The Color, Additives and Inks segment offers custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, and specialty inks; custom-formulated liquid system, such as polyester, vinyl, natural rubber and latex, polyurethane, and silicone; and proprietary inks.